Apparatus for drying matrices.



H. A. W. WOOD.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING MATRICES.

APPL|CAT|ON FILED NOV. :1. 19m.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. A. W. WOOD.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING MATRICES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17. 1910.

Patented NovL 6, 1917.

4'SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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W vryr H. A. W. WOOD.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING MATRICES.

APPLICATION FILED N.0V.l7.1910.

1 45,547 Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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1"? 2 a o o o a SM H. A. W. WOOD.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING MATRICES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11. 1 910.

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fin W Wm Q HENRY A. wrsn woon, or NEW YORK, N. Y

V7091) NEUSPAPEE TION OF VIRGINIA.

., essienon, BY nnsnn ASSIGNMENTS, r

TEACHINERY .CGRPORATION, ,OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA- APPARATUS FOR DRYING MATRICES.

Specification of Letters Patent. 'Patentgd NOV, 6, 1917,

Application filed November 1'7, E1910. Serial No. 592, 9".

To all whom it may concern.

Beit'known that I, HENRY A. iVrsn VVooD,

a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of blew York, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Drying Matrices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates .to the drying of stereotype matrices.

The principal objects of the invention are to facilitate this operation so as to reduce the delays which ordinarily occur in carrying it out; to provide means whereby considerable-space is saved and a great deal of manual labor dispensed with; to provide means whereby the drying-operation is made a substantially continuous oneand whereby (regardless of the number of forms that are being dried) there will always be a place provided for an lZl-COHllIlg form; to provide a simple and convenient pressure plate movable with the matrix independently of the drying table; and to provide the same with means for holding in place and applying pressure to the matrix. and for attaching the means to the chase; and generally to improve the method of drying matrices.

The invention also involves means whereby instead of a number offixed drying machines, a single one can be employed having almost any desired capacity, and Cape.- ble of operating eflic'iently either with small or large output.

Further objects and advantages of themvention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side view of a machine embodying one form of this invention.

F 2 is a plan of a portion thereof.

Fig. '3 is a sectional view of the same on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. at is an end view of one of the details of construction.

Fig. 5 is a central section view of the same.

Fig. 6 is a plan of a portion of a presure plate adapted to be used with said machine.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 8 is a sectional on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6. V

Fig. 9 is a side view of a simplified form of the invention, and

Fig 10 is an end elevation thereof.-

As is well understood, the process of drying papier-mach matrices, occasions an important and annoying delay in the producintervene betweenthe closingof a type form and the printing of the first paper, it is obvious that it occupies a portion of What is the most valuable time of a newspaper. .On account of this, the large newspaper otlices must eitherhave many drying presses at hand, or forms mustlbe held bacl: until preceding forms are dried and out of the way. .On-account of the cost of'thesedrying tion of a newspaper. As it must necessarily presses and the spacethat they occupy, there r is a tendency to have too few of them, so that delays constantly occur. By the present invention these defects in the existing system are eliminated, asthe process of drying is made substantially continuous so that there isialways a waitingdrying place for an incoming form, almost regardless oft-he number that are ein the process of being dried.

This result is secured by providing a comparatively long heating surface or drying table and moving the forms along the same during the process of drying either continuously or intermittently, so that as soon as one form hasfbee-nplacedon the table it will be moved along to leave a space for another. Thus the forms are dried 'while'bein'g .carried from one place to another. I

A highly developed form of the invention is shown in the first eight figures of the v drawings;

' Thedryin-g table 1:0'is shown as a steam table but can be heated electrically orin any other desired'way. It furnishes an extended surface capable of holding av plurality of forms at once. Along this surface the forms gage the switch 13 and move it to inoperative position. Therefore, when the switch is thrown in by hand, which the operator does after he has placed a form on the table in the position indicated by A, the motor will start and the shaft i l will rotate onethird of a revolution and then the next lug 16 will engage the switch and stop it. This motion of the shaft causes the form to move to the position B in the following manner.

The shaft 14E is provided with a cam 17 which has three parts, each one occupying a third of its circumference. One of these portions is concentric with the shaft and the other two constitute projections. These projections cause the cam to move the cam roller 18 outwardly from the center and then back to neutral position twice during each complete revolution. It remains stationary during the other third of the revolution. The cam roller 18 is on an arm 19 mounted on a shaft 20 which is provided with a gear segment 21 meshing with a rack 22. This rack slides transversely of the steam table. It has a pusher 28 which engages and pushes the chases which contain the forms across the table. It will be observed that when the first chase is placed on the heating table, and the motor is started, the first projecting portion of the cam 17 will operate to move the pusher out and back and then the shaft will come to rest. This moves this form from position A to position B leaving the space A vacant. When the second form is put in position A, and the motor started again, the second projecting portion of the cam will operate in the same way and then the shaft will again come to rest. This leaves the first two forms in positions B and C with space A vacant. Now when the third form is put in position A the shaft will operate for another third of a revolution without operating the rack 22.

During the first two'thirds of a revolution a cam 25 on the shaft 1A, has been guiding its roller 26 in a circular part of its .cam groove. Now it comes into operation and the roller enters theoff-set portion of the cam groove. This causes the roller to move lengthwise of the shaft so as to swing an arm 27 and segmental gear 28. The latter turns a pinion 29 and a shaft 30 with which it is connected by an ordinary pawl 33 and ratchet wheel 34. They are for preventing backward motion of the shaft 30 when the gear segment returns to normal position. Sprocket wheels 31 meshing with operating chains 32 are mounted on this shaft. The to-and-fro motion of the gear segment advances the chains a distance equal to the distance between cross bars 36. This causes hooks 35, which are mounted on the cross bars 36 connecting the chains, to engage the forms and move them bodily from the positions A, B and C. At the end of this motion the gear segment moves back without operating the sprocket wheels and then for the next two-thirds of a revolution remains motionless. This leaves the spaces A, B and G vacant, and the parts are now in position for receiving the next three forms in the same way. At each subsequent motion of the chain all the forms are advanced along the table until they reach the discharge end. During this time they are being constantly heated and their matrices dried.

It will be seen, therefore, that this operation provides for the drying of a large number of matrices while their forms are being conveyed fromthe receiving end of the heating table to the discharging end, whence they are removed in any desired way to be treated as is usual in printing plants.

It will be seen, moreover, that the machine can be operated at smaller capacity and that the capacity of a machine, designed in accordance with the principles herein set forth, can be increased by changes which are obvious.

For the purpose of holding the matrices and applying the necessary pressure to insure their proper contact with the form during drying, and at the same time to otherwise facilitate the drying operation, the following devices are provided. As has been said, the matrix M is molded in the usual way by brush or on a molding machine, in contact with the type T and in a chase S. When it is removed from the molding machine the molding blanket is stripped off and a dry blanket-carrying pressure plate 40 is clamped on the form. This pressure plate is provided with a drying blanket ll on the under side thereof and this may be held in position by latches 12. These latches are preferably mounted on eccentric shafts the escape of moisture and with a handle 427 i by which the pressure plate can be manipulated. When the pressure plate is placed in position on the form, if its own weight is not sufiicient to hold it imposition and provide the necessary pressure to keep the matrix in close contact with the type during drying, spring hooks 4:8 or the like are placed in position to hold the plate. These hooks extend under ledges on the edge of the chase. The pressure plate may have ledges or other devices contacting with the sides of the chase to keep the two elements in proper relative position.

It will be understood, of course, that the invention can be carried out in much simp lerways than that just described. One of these is shown in Figs. 9 and 10. In this case the matrix drying table (either steam or electrically heated) is similar to the one shown in the first figures but not as wide. In this :case the forms are advanced a predetermined distance under control of the operator, who as above, throws in an electric switch 13 whenever he has placed a form on the table. The motor 11 controlled thereby operates a shaft 50 shown in this instance .as below the top of the heating table and provided with sprocket wheels 51 on which run the endless chains One of the sprocket wheels is provided with lugs 53 :adapted to throw the switch out a predetermined number of times, as for example, twice, during a complete rotation of the shaft, thus stopping the motor and the rest of the mechanism after a part of a revolution has been completed. It will be seen by this that each time the switch is thrown in, the sprockets will rotate. in this instance one-half ofarevolution. Thus the form ust placed in position, as well as the other forms .ahead of it, will be advanced along apredetermined path a distance equal to onehalf the pitch circumference of the sprockets. This is accomplished in this instance in a very simple way by lugs 5% on the sprocket chains engaging pins 55 on the chase and causing them to advance with the chains. The lugs 53 can be carried either by the sprocket wheel or chain, as desired. hen it is desired to use a table the width of two forms, itcan be constructed in a manner similar to the machine just described, and the alternate forms placed on the near and far sides of the table respectively. The mechanism is then started when two are in their initial positions.

While I have illustrated and described certain preferred forms of the invention, I am aware that many modifications can be made in the same without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the details of constructions herein shown and described, but what I do claim is 1. In a matrix drying device, the combination with means for holding a matrix in contact with its form during drying, of means for moving said form, and means for constantly heating the form during its movement.

2. In a drying device for matrices, the combination with a drying table having a length sufiicient to accommodate a plurality of forms arranged along the surface thereof, of a plurality of matrix holders each adapted to rest on its form upon said table and each being adapted to hold the matrix in contact with the type, said holders and forms being movable along said table.

3. In a device for drying stereotype 1natrices, the combination with a heating table, of means for moving matrices under pressure along the table while supported thereon, whereby they will be dried during their motion.

:i. In a device for drying matrices, the combination with a heating table, of means for intermittently moving matrices and their forms along the surface thereof, whereby aid matrices will be dried during their motion and while at rest on said table.

' 5. In a device for drying stereotype matrices, the combination with a heating table, of means for simultaneously moving a plurality of matrices with their forms along the surface of said heating table, said table having a surface for supporting each of said forms in position to be engaged by the moving means.

6. In a device of the character described. the combination of a heating table adapted tosupport forms with matrices thereon, and an endless conveyer having means for en gaging said forms and moving them along thesurface of the table.

7. In a device of the character described,

the combination of a heating table adapted "to support forms with matrices thereon, an endless chain conveyer having means for en gaging said forms and moving them along the surface of the table, means for operating said conveyer, and means for automatically arresting :the movement of the form after it has been moved from the position in which combination with a heating table adapted to support forms with matrices on the surface thereof, of means for moving a form transversely of the table, and means for moving the form longitudinally of the table.

10. In a device for drying matrices, the

combination with a heating table adapted to support forms with matrices on the surface thereof, of means for moving a form transversely of the table, and means for thereafter moving it longitudinally of the table from its initial position thereon toward the opposite end thereof.

11. In a device of the character described, the combination with a matrix drying table having near one end a surface for receiving forms having matrices, means for moving a form deposited on that surface transversely of the table, whereby the space for receivmg the form is left vacant, and means for thereafter moving longitudinally said form and any form in transverse alinement therewith on the table.

12. in a device of the character described, the combination with a heating table, of a neciprocat' conveyer for moving a form and matrix transversely of the table, and an endless chain conveyer for thereafter moving the form and matrix longitudinally of the table.

13. In a device of the character described, the combination with a drying table, of an operating shafn'means connected with said shaft for moving a form and matrix transversely of the table, and means connected with said shaft for thereafter moving said form and matrix longitudinally of the table.

is. in a device of the character described, the combination with a drying table, of an operating shaft, two cams thereon, a convever connected with and operated by one or said cams for moving forms transversely of the table, and a conveyor connected with and operated by the other cam for moving forms longitudinally of the table.

15. In a device of the character described, the combination with a drying table, of an operating shaft, two cams thereon, a reciprocating conveyer connected with and op.- erated l 3* one of said cams for moving forms transversely of the table, an endless chain ccnveyer connected with and operated by the other cam for moving forms longitudinally of the table, the cam connected with the transverse conveyor having means for operating the conveyer, and means for keeping the conveyer stationary during different periods of the rotation of said shaft, the

adapted to be supported thereon, means carried with the form for holding a matrix in contact with the type, a. conveyer, and means on the conveyer for engaging the form and moving it along the table.

17. In a device of the character described,

the combination of a heating table having a flat surface, a chase having a flat surface adapted to rest on the table and adapted to carry type, a pressure plate supported by said chase for holding a matrix in contact ith the type, said chase being adapted to be moved along the surface of the table with the pressure plate thereon.

18. in a device of the character described,

the combination with a heating table, of

means for holding type movable along said table, and means movable with said holding means for applying pressure to a matrix on the type.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my nand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY A. WISE WOOD.

i tnesses ELIZABETH CALDBEOK, FRANK VON HALLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

